Finding a Home on Campus
College-readership programs are getting good marks at campuses around the country, as newspapers set up distribution deals designed to cultivate the next generation of subscribers.
While some college journalists have objected to the free distribution of other papers on their turf, college-copy programs are growing in acceptance, and surveys show that the movement has not hurt readership of student newspapers as feared.
"[Our student paper] has actually had more editions picked up since the readership program began," says Betty Moore, director of the Student Affairs Research and Assessment Office at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "We were the first university to do the readership program [on a widespread scale], and the first to bring in a national, local and student newspaper combination for distribution."
Penn State's readership program began five years ago, with distribution in three dormitories at University Park, the largest of the university's 20 campuses. The program, now on all campuses, includes distribution of The New York Times, USA Today, the local paper chosen by each campus, and the student newspaper.
"At our [University Park] location alone, we have 33,000 to 35,000 copies of the three papers picked up Monday through Friday during the academic semester, and 19,000 of the student newspaper, so our students are reading newspapers," Moore says. The program is funded through a charge added to tuition.
Integrating the newspaper into the academic and student life of a university is the goal of The New York Times' Partners in Education Program.
"We work with student newspapers, honors associations and faculties to talk about educational objectives, so the program works differently on each campus," says Felice Nudelman, college-marketing manager for The New York Times. "We work with around 175 to 180 campuses. At one college, students receive the paper as part of their honors seminar. On another campus, the Times is used almost as a primary text in science courses and students are given assignments of looking at the world through their newspaper reading."
"The opportunity to develop [innovative] programs builds a new generation of New York Times readers, and gives us a connection to them to get insights into their thinking," says Nudelman.
One of the newest college programs features a partnership between the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, Michigan State University in East Lansing and USA Today.
"Everyone thought if the local paper came in, we'd steal readers and advertisers [from] the school paper, The State News," says State Journal Circulation Director Richard Bell. "But we started printing and distributing the school paper in mid-2000, and proved our trustworthiness to them."
Bell says the Journal delivers 500 copies of the State Journal and 260 copies of USA Today daily to the journalism school and 11 other campus locations. As part of the Journal's customer-service effort, distributors deliver papers in the morning and return mid-day to straighten up their papers, the campus paper, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, also offered at the same locations.
"We built 11 custom oak readership stands that say 'Lansing State Journal-Michigan State University-USA Today Readership Program' in green, the school colors," says Bell, who reported less than 20 returns during the spring semester. "We've continued to put out papers [through the summer months] under the third-party sponsorship of a local Chevy dealership".